Back Then

My hair is too flimsy, too flyaway
to get one of those butch haircuts—
tight to your head and shaved real close
When my hair was full I told the hairdresser,
to cut my hair short and when she finished
 I said, “Can you make it shorter.”
The remedial reading teacher thought
I was brave— I can almost see your scalp—
I pushed the  boundaries ,tiptoeing
up against the way things were done
I was open to suggestions